Tag Archives | Zahi Hawass

Some of you may have seen Zahi Hawass, former reality TV star, throw his toys out of the proverbial pram at the mere mention of Robert Bauval and his Orion Correlation theory prior to a speaking event in Cairo. He later returned to the event to take questions from the audience along with disinformation® author Graham Hancock. When an audience member asks Hawass about the now famous megalithic site at Gobekli Tepe in Turkey, Hawass, who trained as an archeologist, says he’s never heard of the place and then refuses to give it any consideration whatsoever. Watch it and squirm:

Former Egyptian Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass completely loses his mind in the warm up to a debate in Cairo with Graham Hancock. The trigger event appears to be the mention of another disinformation® author, Robert Bauval, a well-respected Egyptologist … in some circles but clearly not in the mind of Hawass.

For more than a year the encounter that took place at the Mena House Hotel, Giza Egypt, on 22 April 2015 between famed Egyptologist Dr Zahi Hawass and controversial alternative historian Graham Hancock, had been billed as”the first open debate between the representatives of two completely different versions of history.” On the night of the event, however, as Graham Hancock was focussing his slides prior to giving his opening presentation, and before most of the audience had even entered the room, Dr Hawass saw that one slide contained a photograph of Hancock’s colleague Robert Bauval, originator of the Orion correlation theory with whom Dr Hawass has had disagreements for many years.

In what is bound to be unpleasant news to the likes of alternative Egyptologists Robert Bauval and Ahmed Osman, but perhaps unsurprising given that charges relating to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s various crimes have been dropped, his former Minister of Antiquities Zahi Hawass has also been cleared of corruption, reports AhramOnline:

Egypt’s leading prosecutor for public funds cases has cleared world-renowned Egyptologist Zawi Hawass on charges of wasting public money and illicit gains.

Hawass, who served as antiquities minister under ousted president Hosni Mubarak, was also accused by former colleagues of neglecting Egypt’s heritage sites and sending unique artefacts abroad, such as two Tutankhamun exhibitions in 2008.

Further complaints alleged that Hawass was guilty of illicit gains through his clothing line, which features photos of himself and Egyptian artefacts.

However, after two years of investigations into the complaints, Ahmed El-Bahrawi, First Attorney-General for Public Funds Prosecution, decided on Tuesday to dismiss the allegations.

There shall appear and shine the sign of the Son of Man in the Heaven. . . . – Matthew 24:30

Only an initiate may understand. . . . – Edgar Cayce on the Great Pyramid of Giza, Reading 5748-5

Gizah Pyramids. Photo: Ricardo Liberato (CC)

The hope of finding a secret chamber in the Giza Plateau, the home of the Great Pyramid and the Great Sphinx, has never been so high. As I write these words (late February 2014), Egyptians have gone to the ballot boxes and voted in favor of a new constitution. Soon presidential elections will take place, to be followed immediately by the formation of a parliament. A new Egypt is in the making, and hopefully along with it a new and more open-minded Ministry of Antiquities.… Read the rest

Six Egyptians (two inspectors of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and four others from the security personnel and a travel agent) have been jailed since February because they allegedly assisted German tourists in April 2013 to take a small sample of red paint from the Cartouche of King Khufu in the Great Pyramid. But now new official evidence has been found that the sample of red paint from the Cartouche was taken in 2006 during the time of Zahi Hawass, which proves the innocence of the six Egyptians.

On April 17, 2013 three German tourists obtained a permit from the Supreme Council of the Antiquities to have a private visit in the Great Pyramid from 6 to 8 p.m. They were accompanied by their travel agent, two inspectors from antiquities, and three security guards. While inside the pyramid the Germans were allowed to enter the so-called Relief Chambers above the King’s Chamber.… Read the rest

Kate Taylor’s front page article for the New York Times suggests that Dr. Hawass, the controversial Egyptian antiquities minister, is on the way out. I know more than a few people who think it’s more than past due:

Until recently Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s antiquities minister, was a global symbol of Egyptian national pride. A famous archaeologist in an Indiana Jones hat, he was virtually unassailable in the old Egypt, protected by his success in boosting tourism, his efforts to reclaim lost artifacts and his closeness to the country’s first lady, Suzanne Mubarak.

But the revolution changed all that.

Now demonstrators in Cairo are calling for his resignation as the interim government faces disaffected crowds in Tahrir Square.

Their primary complaint is his association with the Mubaraks, whom he defended in the early days of the revolution. But the upheaval has also drawn attention to the ways he has increased his profile over the years, often with the help of organizations and companies with which he has done business as a government official.

The soap opera saga of History Channel’s swashbuckling Egyptologist continues. Dr. Hawass appeared to have survived the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, but now finds himself sentenced to a year in jail. He’s appealing of course, but it seems that the controversial Egyptian is on the ropes. Alan Shahine reports for Bloomberg:

Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s minister of state for antiquities, said he will appeal a one-year jail sentence imposed on him yesterday.

The sentence is related to a lawsuit accusing him of refusing to carry out a court ruling, the state-run Middle East News Agency said today. The court had ordered a halt to bidding from companies to run a bookstore in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Hawass said today in his blog.

“Tomorrow, the head of the legal affairs department at the Ministry of Antiquities will go to the court to file our appeal,” Hawass said in the Web log.

For most people, Zahi Hawass, star of his own cable TV series, purveyor of his own line of Indiana Jones-style wide-brimmed hats, and most prominently the man in charge of all the top cultural sites in Egypt, personified the swashbuckling adventurer of yore, determined to protect and cherish the many wonders of Ancient Egypt.

There was another side to Dr. Hawass, however, and his reactionary and sometimes capricious rulings on who could visit and research the sites were the stuff of legend among Egyptologists outside of his approved, establishment allies.

I’m a little skeptical that his resignation is anything more than a power play and suspect that he may very well make a well-staged, dramatic comeback — but if he really has gone for good, I’m hopeful that we may enter into a new era of breakthrough research in Egypt (perhaps from some of the great alternative researchers such as Andrew Collins, Ahmed Osman, John Anthony West and Robert Bauval).… Read the rest

Egypt’s irrepressible and media-hungry chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass has taken the rare step of changing the official version of who built the pyramids. The establishment Egyptologists may take years to recover … what’s next, Zahi endorsing Robert Bauval’s Star Correlation Theory?!? From ABC News/Reuters:

New tombs found in Giza support the view that the Great Pyramids were built by free workers and not slaves, as widely believed, Egypt’s chief archaeologist said on Sunday.

Films and media have long depicted slaves toiling away in the desert to build the mammoth pyramids only to meet a miserable death at the end of their efforts.

“These tombs were built beside the king’s pyramid, which indicates that these people were not by any means slaves,” Zahi Hawass, the chief archaeologist heading the Egyptian excavation team, said in a statement.

“If they were slaves, they would not have been able to build their tombs beside their king’s.”

He said the collection of workers’ tombs, some of which were found in the 1990s, were among the most significant finds in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Bikya Masr reports on the rude behavior of Zahi Hawass, a man who has often tangled with anyone daring to challenge his “official” opinions on the Giza Pyramids or any other aspect of ancient Egypt:

CAIRO: In a shocking display of poor diplomacy, Egypt’s chief Egyptologist Zahi Hawass allegedly called American pop-star Beyonce a “stupid person” during her brief tour of the Giza pyramids earlier this week. Writing in al-Shorouk newspaper, Summer al-Gamal said that Hawass became fed up with the pop star’s attitude after she did not show the interest Hawass felt was deserved of the pyramids.

According to Gamal, during Hawass’ self-guided tour, he said “I showed her the Sphinx and I gave her a book on King Tutankhamen,” but then his anger and frustration made its way to the forefront.

“Then he stopped being diplomatic and said in anger, ’she’s a stupid person and she doesn’t understand a thing and she doesn’t want to understand’,” wrote Gamal.